Oct. 1: The no-name hurricane of 1893 that killed more than Katrina -- archived photos

More than 1,800 people died in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana and Coastal Mississippi. But did you know about the 1893 hurricane that struck near Grand Isle on Oct. 1? The unnamed Category 4 storm (names weren't assigned to hurricanes until 1953) made landfall at Cheniere Caminada and killed 2,000, from Louisiana to Alabama.

According to church records, the population of Cheniere at the time was 1,471, and of those, 779 were killed, Loyola University writes on its website. "Grand Isle and Cheniere were probably the earliest known islands in the Barataria region of Louisiana,'' the website says. "Great Awakening'' author Kate Chopin was among the visitors to the islands, a popular summertime vacation spot.

(Times-Picayune file photo)

Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Cheniere in 1890, three years before the hurricane.

"Cheniere Caminada's church, Our Lady of Lourdes, was one that visitors from Grand Isle, and the residents of Cheniere would fill on Sunday mornings. Kate Chopin alludes to this church in "The Awakening" and names it specifically in her short story, "At Cheniere Caminada," which also introduces the character of Madame Lebrun, who was the mother of Robert in "The Awakening,'' Loyola University writes on its website.

George Francois Mugnier

Photo courtesy of the New Orleans Public Library. The 1893 hurricane approaches Grand Isle.

Photographer George Mugnier may have been employed for the Times-Democrat when this photo was taken. Mugnier was born in France on Jan. 1, 1855. He was in New Orleans by 1868. Originally a watchmaker, he turned to photography in 1884 with a studio on Exchange Alley. Mugnier gained some fame as a photographer of views and landscapes in New Orleans and the surrounding region. His photography was not, however, always profitable enough to support him and his family, and he held a variety of other jobs throughout his life.

Times-Picayune file photo

The Krantz Hotel in Grande Isle after the hurricane, October 1893. The area was a popular summer vacation spot. "It was common that women and children would stay in the hot summer months on Grand Isle, while their husbands worked in the city and visited on weekends,'' Loyola writes on its website.

Times-Picayune file photo

The Ocean Club, one of America' most luxurious hotels, was among the Grand Isle tourist attractions devastated by a hurricane in 1893. It was never rebuilt in its original grand manner.

Author Kate Chopin set her novel "The Awakening" in Grand Isle. Her character Edna Pontellier's story takes place in 1890s Louisiana, within the upper-class Creole society. Edna, her husband Leonce, and their two children are vacationing for the summer on Grand Isle. Like many New Orleans Creole families, Chopin visited the resorts on the island as a young mother with her family.

"For young mothers, like Kate Chopin, Grand Isle was wholesome: no open canals or cisterns or swarming mosquitos (sic) threatened children or adults with deadly diseases. No one locked doors. The island was a tropical paradise, with palm trees, vines, orange and lemon trees, acres of yellow chamomile, and no streets -- only grassy green or sandy paths. It was seductive to the imagination, too, with tales of shipwrecks and pirate gold from Barataria Bay, the old haunt of the pirate Jean Lafitte."

Courtesy Library of Congress

The Times-Democrat sent out the steamer Amelia Harvey as a relief boat after the hurricane of 1893. Illustration from "Cheniere Caminada, or, The Wind of Death. The story of the storm in Louisiana." Story and illustrations by Rose C. Falls. New Orleans, Hopkins' printing office, 1893.